by Bamidele Aremu
A London-based British-Indian, 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, has been identified as the lone survivor of the devastating Air India Flight AI171 crash that occurred on Monday morning near Ahmedabad Airport.
While initial reports suggested at least 40 casualties, updated figures from local emergency services now confirm that more than 200 passengers perished in the accident.
Authorities in Ahmedabad have verified that Ramesh is the only known individual to have survived the incident.
Ramesh had been in Gujarat visiting relatives and was en route back to London when disaster struck moments after the plane took off.
He is currently hospitalized with injuries to his chest, feet, and eyes, but is reported to be in stable condition.
In a account from his hospital bed shared Ramesh described the terrifying sequence of events: “About thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud bang, and everything just fell apart. It happened so fast. When I regained consciousness, I was surrounded by bodies. I panicked and started running. Debris was everywhere. Someone pulled me out and rushed me to an ambulance.”
The ill-fated aircraft, en route to London with 242 individuals on board, vanished from radar shortly after takeoff.
According to data from Flightradar24, the last transmission from the plane was recorded at an altitude of just 625 feet (approximately 190 meters).
The plan went down in a heavily populated neighborhood primarily inhabited by healthcare workers, igniting a massive explosion that caused severe destruction and chaos across the area.
